Unplanned Arrival
by RainbowJH
Summary: Today was the day, the day I finally told Charlus. I, again, felt that tingly, lightheaded feeling I had felt when I first found out. My hair was perfectly coiled and my dress was crease-free. I know he'll be exhilarated. "Dorea?" I looked up in the mirror, catching the glimpse of that familiar face, a visage that grew more beautiful with each passing day. Canon-compliant.


**This was written for Term 3 Major and Minor Arcana Assignment 1. Also, written for The Competition For Hard-Core Marauder Fans.**

 **Additional prompts used for the assignment: journey, new, step, dreams.**

 **Words: 801**

* * *

 _Mrs. Potter's PoV_

I looked at myself in the ornate, carved mirror. Today was the day, the day I finally told Charlus. I, again, felt that tingly, lightheaded feeling I had felt when I first found out. My hair was perfectly coiled and my dress was crease-free. I know he'll be exhilarated.

"Dorea?" I looked up in the mirror, catching the glimpse of that familiar face, a visage that grew more beautiful with each passing day. I remembered that time when we had married, straight out of the school. We had celebrated our honeymoon in Italy. It was the beginning of our journey. It has been 24 years since then.

Charles came forward smiling, resting his hands on my shoulders, "Are you ready?"

"Yes, in a minute. Can you sit down? I want to say something."

Worry immediately reflected in his eyes. "What happened? Is everything alright?"

"Yes, yes, everything's fine." I said distractedly. I was worrying. What if he didn't take it well?

He conjured a chair, high-backed like the ones he usually prefers complete with a cushion and sat down facing me sideways. I turned towards him finally.

"I am pregnant." There was no other better way. We'd been through this twice before but I'd miscarried in the early stages. Those were bad times. We had decided to stop trying after that on the advise of the healers. Sometimes, I still find myself thinking of the what ifs and looking wistfully at the children's section of clothes at Madam Malkin's.

"How- I mean, I thought you were on the potion?"

"Yes, yes I was. But I just stopped some 10 months before. What are the chances of an old lady getting pregnant? My menopause has already started."

"How long?" His face was indecipherable. I was screaming at him to show something, some hint - was he angry, was he okay with this? He surely wasn't screaming with joy like the first time.

"The second trimester started this week,' I said softly, trying to keep my voice calm, my excitement at this fact barely restrained. We hadn't made it this far before. The early stage was gone, the initial risk over. Though the risk factor was still there.

"Are you sure? Will you be able to carry it to term?" My Charlus, always the practical one. Sometimes I wonder if our houses were interchanged.

"I went to the healer. She said everything was alright. I have been on prenatals since more than a month. I am sorry, I didn't tell you earlier. I haven't told anyone except the healer. I wanted to, you know but I was afraid. Especially after the last two times, I didn't want to get anyone's hope up. I, I .." I looked at him helplessly as I trailed off, the words that had been choked in my throat all pouring out.

"Shh. Everything will be alright." He leaned down, drawing me in a hug. My shoulders sagged with relief and it was all I could do to not cry there and then.

"Let's go down," I said pulling back, calm again. "People are waiting."

"Okay, yes, yes let's."

As we made our way downstairs, my thoughts were filled with dreams of the future, of tiny feet running down the hallways, of a child's laughter, of the faint scent of the baby powder in the rooms.

* * *

"How about Pluto?" I suggested.

"Dear, though I respect your decision of wanting to name our child after celestial bodies, provided it doesn't scar the child for the rest of his life, I think we need to think outside the box. Pluto sounds like a name of a dog. How about muggle names? I have a book right here." He handed me the book and went back to finding names from his favorite books.

"What do you think of the name James?" I looked up at Charlus from the book of baby names in front of me as I pondered over the name Charlus just said, "Hmm, what does it mean?"

"A name for a boy who is usually handsome, sweet, funny and charming and trustworthy, someone anyone can share their thoughts with without the fear of him going off and telling everybody, he's liked by many and is a very good friend."

"That sounds great. James Charlus Potter." I said it out loud, testing my tongue. It rolled off perfectly but the final decision was made by the babe himself, by kicking me in my gut, sharply.

"Ohh," I looked up at Charlus in surprise. "James Charlus Potter." I got another kick in response.

"He likes the name, don't you, Jamie-pie?" I cooed.

And, voila, the name was decided, just like that.

This was how it started - the beginning of a new journey, next chapter for us, together.

* * *

 **A review for me? Pweese?**

 **Update: I got 18/20 for this story.**


End file.
